The present invention relates to electronic communication, and more specifically, to messaging in a collaborative environment.
Online messaging applications and collaborative development environments are fundamentally changing the way people interact with one another, share information, and communicate. Applications (or apps) such as WHATSAPP, VIBER, SLACK, FACEBOOK MESSENGER, TRELLO, WECHAT, and VINE are a few of the present day examples of messaging applications found on many smartphones, tablets, and computers that offer messaging and facilitate electronic exchange of text, images, audio, and video. WHATSAPP is a trademark of WHATSAPP, Inc. VIBER is a trademark of Viber Media S.A.R.L. SLACK is a trademark of Slack Technologies, Inc. FACEBOOK MESSENGER is a trademark of Facebook, Inc. TRELLO is a trademark of Trello, Inc. WECHAT is a trademark of Tencent Holdings, Ltd. VINE is a trademark of Twitter, Inc.
Limitations in human attention may make it difficult for a user to keep abreast of all the notifications, messages, images, audio, and video that may be received, resulting in information overload. There may be serious implications as a result of such information overload. As an example, consider the scenario where a user is engaging with several messaging applications over a number of modalities, while also performing critical tasks in response to received messages. A deluge of messages and data can be difficult to keep abreast of and process. Vital information that may impact the user could be missed or overlooked.
Presently, a leading messaging application has over 1 billion monthly active users, and it has been reported that 6 out of the top 10 mobile apps are messaging apps. Messaging apps dominate other kinds of apps in terms of sessions. The “Slack” messaging application platform is changing how enterprises communicate, facilitating communication among teams into channels, where text-like messages can be viewed by all team members. In such collaborative environments where multiple and geographically dispersed teams work together, a user may easily be overloaded with information and content so as to be unable to prioritize or define needed actions. Such scenarios can lead to miscommunication, poor prioritization, and in some situations a deleterious impact on business operations.